I hear it'll play an epilogue, but it's only limited to details about the main quest, and is set immediately on the completion of the quest. So (major spoiler) if you kill the Emperor during the Dark Brotherhood quest before downing Alduin, while leaving Elisif in power, she won't become High Queen. But you can finish the main quest, let her become Queen, and THEN join the Dark Brotherhood and kill the Emperor. At least I'm pretty sure that's what happens...

Also, I agree about being unable to end quests. With the Thieves Guild, the first quest is from some random guy in Riften who wants you to relieve a guy of something. But there's no way to avoid the quest short of just exiting the conversation (if you even can). If you fail the quest, he'll attribute it to circumstances outside of your control, and you'll get the quest to join the Thieves Guild. I don't know if you can get that quest out of your log and NOT join.

It would be great, though, if you could choose not to join and that would strip the Essential status from guild members, so you can clear them out.

I'm more than a little bit irritated that every faction seems to ultimately suck. A little bit too much like real life for me.

Worse is the fact that to choose the "good" faction, you pretty much always have to turn against another "good" faction.

This is actually largely because I'm irritated that the Blades, despite largely still being a benevolent organization, have become so short-sighted. No, I won't kill a peaceful dragon who wishes to bring harmony to voice-users, so that they only use their gifts in service of the gods, because he once was allied with Alduin. He isn't now--he's helping me fight against him.

Besides, I am more like a dragon than a mortal as Dovahkiin. Sure, my exterior is mortal, but what matters--the soul--is that of a dragon. I'm fighting the dragons because they are wrong, not because they are dragons.

I miss Jauffre.

>:(

Tiber Septim had dragons in his army (one was one of his advisors, iirc). If that's the case, then the Blades have allied with dragons before.

This is actually largely because I'm irritated that the Blades, despite largely still being a benevolent organization, have become so short-sighted. No, I won't kill a peaceful dragon who wishes to bring harmony to voice-users, so that they only use their gifts in service of the gods, because he once was allied with Alduin. He isn't now--he's helping me fight against him.

Besides, I am more like a dragon than a mortal as Dovahkiin. Sure, my exterior is mortal, but what matters--the soul--is that of a dragon. I'm fighting the dragons because they are wrong, not because they are dragons.

I miss Jauffre.

>:(

Tiber Septim had dragons in his army (one was one of his advisors, iirc). If that's the case, then the Blades have allied with dragons before.

Edited, Nov 21st 2011 7:14pm by idiggory

The impression I got is that the Blades feel he went turncoat because it was more beneficial for him to do so, not because he is benevolent. It's also easy to see the Blades twist what he says if they were there, implying he conquered his evil nature because it allows him to basically be *the* dominant dragon, not because he's trustworthy. But yeah, the Blades are seriously messed up in the head.

Of course, you can always join the Dark Brotherhood. Then you can just kill whoever you get a contract/quest from first and let Sithis sort out the corpses.

Question! If I support the Legion, can I still get the house in Windhelm? I mean, I assume I'll eventually be deposing Stormcloak--will the new Jarl make me Thane and/or let me buy the house? Seems only fair, and I always like having a town in each city.

If anyone hasn't hit up Darklight Tower I recommend going there. It is southwest of Riften, close to the mountainside. Fighting the way to the top is a bit of a bother. My mage was getting eaten alive by the hags there. >.> But the boss drops a really sweet staff. Not to mention there is a bit of a story behind the tower.

Question to people that went with heavy armor smithing--I'm assuming the final Dragon perk will also let you smith scale gear? Because that way, you can get the best light armor without having to forfeit weapons...

Only issue, Ebony and Daedric weapons are better than glass... not that this matters when you've got One Hand Damage+% on all your gear and sneak perks... you do miss out on ridiculously awesome looking weapons though.

Only issue, Ebony and Daedric weapons are better than glass... not that this matters when you've got One Hand Damage+% on all your gear and sneak perks... you do miss out on ridiculously awesome looking weapons though.

That's what I meant. I'm going to be wearing Light Armor (probably), but I'm getting the heavy armor perks.

Only issue, Ebony and Daedric weapons are better than glass... not that this matters when you've got One Hand Damage+% on all your gear and sneak perks... you do miss out on ridiculously awesome looking weapons though.

That's what I meant. I'm going to be wearing Light Armor (probably), but I'm getting the heavy armor perks.

"The Rich are there to take all of the money & pay none of the taxes, the middle class is there to do all the work and pay all the taxes, and the poor are there to scare the crap out of the middle class." -George Carlin

so.... for those of you who have already entered solitude and have a taste for the macabre... the first time i went in there i was kind of surprised and the blood spurting out of his neck. well actually, the first time i went in i got up on the platform and the guards attacked and i got more 1H skillups in the following 2 minutes than in the previous 12 hours.

but the third time i went in there, i got up close and personal to see if the blood would spatter the screen .... and raggvir's head... it rolled right in front of me and he looked at me for a couple seconds, blinked, then closed his eyes.

on my way out again his head had rolled into the center of the square, lol.

I've noticed the companions truly do everything in their power to push ever pressure plate in the floor, stand in oil when I'm throwing fire spells and run in between me and my target just as I'm attacking.

That's why I don't run with a companion, anymore. Companion fail makes me kill Riverwood over and over again until no one is left but that little, crying girl whom you apparently can't kill (yes, I tried, don't judge me).

Also, one of the comments to that article was disturbing:

Quote:

My experiments with Necromancy in Skyrim ended when I accidentally clipped my zombie’s head with a greatsword, and as it died it moaned a guttural “thank you”. After that, I paused the game and stared at the wall for a while.

Another was pure win, though:

Quote:

I had to use a console “resurrect” command in Morrowind. I was on a mission for one of the houses, and was asked to assassinate some chap. Trouble was I’d already killed him, and was in fact living in his house.

So I resurrected him, and then killed him again. That felt quite odd…

Edited, Nov 22nd 2011 3:18pm by Mazra

____________________________

Please "talk up" if your comprehension white-shifts. I will use simple-happy language-words to help you understand.

I've noticed the companions truly do everything in their power to push ever pressure plate in the floor, stand in oil when I'm throwing fire spells and run in between me and my target just as I'm attacking.

That's why I don't run with a companion, anymore. Companion fail makes me kill Riverwood over and over again until no one is left but that little, crying girl whom you apparently can't kill (yes, I tried, don't judge me).

I was LOLing at the gate video too. Oh my gosh, it was classic!

I'm finding companions aren't as useful as they were at low levels. At low levels, my dog companion was fantastic; he took on saber cats solo, something I couldn't do. Now I have no problem with most enemies, and the only enemies I might need help with are bosses... and I usually end up reloading anyway, because my companions die during the fight. The only purpose Lydia has right now is as a pack mule in case I come across a few dragons and need her to hold some bones... and even that is less of an issue now that my base carrying weight is like 385 and I have several pieces of +20-30 carry capacity gear.

I guess the only true reason I still have them is because it's a big world and kinda lonely out there

So has anyone seen anything that would really merit a mature rating? The opening part where the guy gets his head chopped off (and later someone else having the same thing done) has been about the only thing. The fatality animations are pretty tame(lame). They should be cool but they don't actually do anything. Fallout 3 seemed so much more bloody and/or gory than this.

Ohh I just looked that up, it does look badass. And lmao at the Lydia article. The first time she died on me I tried to re-animate her too... >.>

I took her around a bit again on my mage becuase when my mage was young she needed her to survive. Ok here are my random observations on my pure mage concept build that has now morphed into a slightly more battlemagey type.

Robes suck. I pretty much went straight to the college at winterhold after talking to the greybeards and doing enough random things to have a house. I was like maybe level 8. The mage college quest line is ROUGH at that low a level. While the questline seems great some of those endless Dwemer dungeon crawls full of Falmer were really sketchy.

I'd find myself out of mana from dual casting impact fireballs after one mob and here comes 2 more.

So I went back to town and leveled up smithing enough to make a exquisite Elven set. Then leveled Enchanting enough to put regen on the helm an chest. With extra magika on some other pieces.

It's like night and day. I am so much stronger. I use my firebolts until I am out of mana and swap to a sword to finish if I have too while I regen enough magic to start casting again. Also Fire Atronarch rocks! She mostly hangs back but even if she gets in the way my fire spells don't hurt her. But I only bust her out for tough fights becuase I like to get all the destruction skill ups I can and she is a kill stealer. :)

____________________________

An old silent pond... A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again.

So has anyone seen anything that would really merit a mature rating? The opening part where the guy gets his head chopped off (and later someone else having the same thing done) has been about the only thing. The fatality animations are pretty tame(lame). They should be cool but they don't actually do anything. Fallout 3 seemed so much more bloody and/or gory than this.

Mostly the violence. Blood stains your weapons, one of the fatalities that happens fairly often with a sword is decapitation (complete with blood squirting out of the severed neck). I feel it's not nearly as mature as Dragon Age, but it's still enough for the M tag.

So has anyone seen anything that would really merit a mature rating? The opening part where the guy gets his head chopped off (and later someone else having the same thing done) has been about the only thing. The fatality animations are pretty tame(lame). They should be cool but they don't actually do anything. Fallout 3 seemed so much more bloody and/or gory than this.

Remember that the fatalities can be pretty brutal too.

But, anyway, ESRB summary:

Quote:

"This is a fantasy role-playing game in which players assume the role of Dovakin, a prophesied figure with the power to combat dragons in the fictional world of Skyrim," it reads. "As players traverse through mountainous open-world environments, they complete missions and quests that impact the eventual fate of their character. Players use swords, bows and arrows, axes, and magic attacks (e.g., fireballs, ice shards) to kill various enemies (e.g., wolves, dragons, human bandits and soldiers). "As players engage in melee-style combat, some sequences are highlighted by slow-motion effects, particularly for decapitations. Large blood-splatter effects also occur during combat, and some environments are stained with blood or body parts (e.g., heads impaled on spikes). Some sequences allow players to injure/kill nonadversary characters, including prisoners chained to a wall; they scream in pain amid splashes of blood or fire. "As the game progresses, the dialogue and on-screen text contains references to sexual material (e.g., ". . . all the whores your heart, or any other organ, desires," "She . . . raped the men as cruelly as Bal had ravished her," and "Remember when you thought [he] was . . . intent on making you . . . into his personal *** slave?"). "Alcohol such as wine, mead, and ale can be purchased and consumed by players' character throughout the game; and in one sequence, players can engage in a drinking contest with another character, which eventually results in slurred speech (e.g., "One more. No problemsh . . . Thash grape!")."

And it's obviously one of the most absurdly stupid organizations I've seen. There's nothing in Skyrim any 16 year old couldn't handle. Anyone in high school, realistically. But it all has to do with this fantasy world the US has in which no one watches **** until they turn 18, where children NEVER curse, and where videos of death and blood are evil (unless you see them on Fox News).

And it's obviously one of the most absurdly stupid organizations I've seen. There's nothing in Skyrim any 16 year old couldn't handle. Anyone in high school, realistically. But it all has to do with this fantasy world the US has in which no one watches **** until they turn 18, where children NEVER curse, and where videos of death and blood are evil (unless you see them on Fox News).

You're feelings are misplaced. They're stated reasons support it getting an M rating entirely, with no doubts. You should be >:O at the people who decide that 16 year olds can't be mature. Let us protest, for hopes that they will lower the age of consent to 16 realize we speak the truth!

Okay, the Nightengale set was everything it was made out to be. Bad-ass.

There's a guild leader set too. It's a (mostly) beefed up version of the standard guild set.

Oh really? I was wondering about that. I'm guessing it's like the dark blue gear that say, Brynholf typically wears? I was sort of hoping I'd get something like that as a reward somewhere down the line.

I'm already missing the +35 Capacity from my improved Thief's Cuirass. If the leader set has the same bonus (or more), I'm going to be torn between that and the Nightengale one.

I did the drinking contest quest in Whiterun. Got drunk, taken to another town, molested a naked statue of a deity, broke into the female-only inner sanctum, got sent on a quest to kidnap a little girl from her home town.

Honestly, why would the priestesses send the random man who just got caught sexing up the naked statues of their beloved goddess to collect a young girl for them?

I reloaded before finishing the quests, since I didn't want to be there yet, and instead wanted to finish some things around Whiterun first.

It has been so long since I've played Morrowind and Oblivion I forgot how awesome the Elder Scrolls games were.

Companion fail makes me kill Riverwood over and over again until no one is left but that little, crying girl whom you apparently can't kill (yes, I tried, don't judge me).

There's a mod that lets you kill children. :3

...I need this mod.

TirithRR wrote:

I did the drinking contest quest in Whiterun. Got drunk, taken to another town, molested a naked statue of a deity, broke into the female-only inner sanctum, got sent on a quest to kidnap a little girl from her home town.

Honestly, why would the priestesses send the random man who just got caught sexing up the naked statues of their beloved goddess to collect a young girl for them?

I reloaded before finishing the quests, since I didn't want to be there yet, and instead wanted to finish some things around Whiterun first.

It has been so long since I've played Morrowind and Oblivion I forgot how awesome the Elder Scrolls games were.

That is an awesome and hilarious quest, I suggest you finish it ASAP. I especially like the "woman" you got engaged to.

Okay, the Nightengale set was everything it was made out to be. Bad-ass.

There's a guild leader set too. It's a (mostly) beefed up version of the standard guild set.

Oh really? I was wondering about that. I'm guessing it's like the dark blue gear that say, Brynholf typically wears? I was sort of hoping I'd get something like that as a reward somewhere down the line.

I'm already missing the +35 Capacity from my improved Thief's Cuirass. If the leader set has the same bonus (or more), I'm going to be torn between that and the Nightengale one.

I wish the Nightengale set had + Capacity

From what I remember, it looks *exactly* like what Brynholf wears. And yes, it does have Carrying Capacity on the chest.

So has anyone seen anything that would really merit a mature rating? The opening part where the guy gets his head chopped off (and later someone else having the same thing done) has been about the only thing. The fatality animations are pretty tame(lame). They should be cool but they don't actually do anything. Fallout 3 seemed so much more bloody and/or gory than this.

Mostly the violence. Blood stains your weapons, one of the fatalities that happens fairly often with a sword is decapitation (complete with blood squirting out of the severed neck). I feel it's not nearly as mature as Dragon Age, but it's still enough for the M tag.

I have never seen that fatality. Haven't used a sword a whole lot. My dagger attack from behind looks like he's slitting the guys eyes because it's so high up. 2h hammer, I do sort of a leg sweep and knock them down and then slam the hammer down (while seeing little or nothing). Just haven't seen anything that impressive so I may have to switch to a sword just to see something of interest.

Yep. I've been using Arch Mage robes over everything until I got my cheesed Dragon Scale armor, although I'm not sure how I feel about wearing something that looks like a poncho for most of the game. :D

There's also a Diadem with the cast reduction to all spells effect, but that's a bit weaker -- would be stepping stone gear to Modokei.

Finally, now that I did put together the 100% gear for Destruction...I can honestly say that the fastest way to skill up Destruction is to cast the highest tier spells that you can cast. Once I was able to chain cast the Thunderbolt/Ice Spear tier of spells, it was a very easy comparison to make. I jumped from 73 to 90+ in less than an hour that way, compared to the slow torture from 50s to 70s. And to put it mildly...that sucks. It means I lost out on a lot of skill ups staying frugal and using the most effective tier. :/